81–90 of 200 posts
I've seen similar arguments from the deaf community about hearing restoration as "correcting" something when nothing is "wrong".
FWIW I think this invention is awesome.
I am not a robotics expert, and I've always wanted to ask one... Why do these designs always have the actuators mounted directly at the joints? Why not have some high modulus yarn transfer the joint loads (ala a bike brake cable, say with high modulus aramid?)? One could keep the actuators near the center of mass (or a trolley that follows it around), and keep the suit fairly minimal.
Funny you mention that, this guy [1] made an actuator/arm recently doing that technique. Does work but accuracy/flex can be a problem.
This is amazing. I built one to help my nephew walk, and now selling commercially ( http://trexorobotics.com ) I am fed-up at the lack of options available to individuals. People thought that everyone will get an exoskeleton and be able to walk with it everywhere. But the industry ran into many challenges. A big one that many dont understand is getting insurance coverage. The way the US healthcare system is designed,…
I'm picturing the robot in Avatar [1], but with an open top and much less threatening and not weaponized [2], like big robotic pants. If I were to quit my job, it would be to make human robot minotaurs a reality, but then again, what do I know about robots?
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6ttDZFmGqg
[2] https://www.pcmag.com/news/toyotas-latest-humanoid-robot-can...
I am not a robotics expert, and I've always wanted to ask one... Why do these designs always have the actuators mounted directly at the joints? Why not have some high modulus yarn transfer the joint loads (ala a bike brake cable, say with high modulus aramid?)? One could keep the actuators near the center of mass (or a trolley that follows it around), and keep the suit fairly minimal.
In today's culture wouldn't this be considered "ableist"? Aren't we internalizing the idea of being "disabled" to this kid and thus dehumanizing him by building a machine that "corrects" his inability to walk? I've seen similar arguments from the deaf community about hearing restoration as "correcting" something when nothing is "wrong". FWIW I think this invention is awesome.
I've been making my own, purely as a pipe-dream to have some hope of walking again, it's not easy but I'm hoping it'll be a better fit than consumer ones, and probably cheaper. I feel like we've made leaps and bounds in prosthetics this past decade but orthotics and exoskeletons haven't been following the trend for some reason. As an engineer I imagine there are some significant design constraints that make it hard b…
I'm near ready to start a workshop, I think we ought to make these kind of things more prevalent, a lot of money is lost on ultra expensive medical devices with really low value (wheelchairs or similar) giving someone an exoskeleton might be something much more joyful and inspiring than a wheelchair, it can revive your life
In today's culture wouldn't this be considered "ableist"? Aren't we internalizing the idea of being "disabled" to this kid and thus dehumanizing him by building a machine that "corrects" his inability to walk? I've seen similar arguments from the deaf community about hearing restoration as "correcting" something when nothing is "wrong". FWIW I think this invention is awesome.
By this logic, any medicine is ableist. Are we dehumanizing people with flesh wounds by sewing them up and stopping the bleeding?
I believe the original ideas around this go back to when a child is born with ambiguous sex organs. Parents and doctors would then choose to "correct" the issue to ensure the baby is either a boy or a girl, when in actuality it may have chromosome's that are not XX or XY. So then this (which is actually a really interesting debate) has cascaded into the greater world of disabilities. So there are currently critical theorists in the universities "theorizing" that looking at disabilities as something that needs to be corrected and not something that is normal puts people with them on the margins of society.
So there is well regarded (by some) literature that fixing deafness is wrong and that society shouldn't see it as a disability - that society should adapt to be seamlessly inclusive for deaf people. And this goes on and on.
In essence, science is racist and it has been white men who have classified what is normal and what is not and who is to say that everyone is normal and "correcting" these things is actually, well, "ableist".
It can get pretty crazy (whoops, that's a naughty word) out there.
This is amazing. I built one to help my nephew walk, and now selling commercially ( http://trexorobotics.com ) I am fed-up at the lack of options available to individuals. People thought that everyone will get an exoskeleton and be able to walk with it everywhere. But the industry ran into many challenges. A big one that many dont understand is getting insurance coverage. The way the US healthcare system is designed,…
Talk about impactful work. I wonder how many lives you've changed. Well done. This is something close to miracle tech, at least for the people wearing it. I can't help but feel curious whether they're a viable alternative to wheelchairs, or if it's a temporary feeling (kind of like riding on a rollercoaster, in that you go and do it for the experience and then return to your normal life). But that's just my ignorance…
$1000/mo for a rental. People without insurance need not apply.
This is amazing. I built one to help my nephew walk, and now selling commercially ( http://trexorobotics.com ) I am fed-up at the lack of options available to individuals. People thought that everyone will get an exoskeleton and be able to walk with it everywhere. But the industry ran into many challenges. A big one that many dont understand is getting insurance coverage. The way the US healthcare system is designed,…
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